I swear I've asked this before but don't remember any responses, or maybe I just forgot to ask in my old age. Has anyone deployed Chromebooks in their schools? If so how much of an increase in bandwidth utilization did you notice? I'm currently negotiating to bring more bandwidth into the building, the only black hole is how much the Chromebooks will use. I'll have approx 190 of them, I'm thinking a 15-20Mbps connection would do. Anyone have some insight to share? Thanks!

Last school year we really started using Google Apps including Google Docs. Basically the same setup as on the Chromebooks. We have about 400 students and staff in the building and run a 15 mbs Internet connection. We rarely peak above 75% use. That includes Youtube open for students and a streaming video service for teachers.

Peak bandwidth use has not changed much with Google Apps, however average bandwidth has increased some. I would like to see our pipe increased to 25mbs to handle future needs.

12 Replies

Bandwidth on the Internet connection or? It may depend on what you're trying to do with things. We have 1500 computers. On a typical day we see 600-750 in use. We have a 50 Mb pipe to the Internet with no congestion issues yet.

My main concern is connection to the internet. Since Chromebooks store data "in the cloud" I'm not sure if it would have the same connection needs as a traditional computer or if it requires more bandwidth while working on docs which is traditionally an off-line function.

Last school year we really started using Google Apps including Google Docs. Basically the same setup as on the Chromebooks. We have about 400 students and staff in the building and run a 15 mbs Internet connection. We rarely peak above 75% use. That includes Youtube open for students and a streaming video service for teachers.

Peak bandwidth use has not changed much with Google Apps, however average bandwidth has increased some. I would like to see our pipe increased to 25mbs to handle future needs.

Mark - That helps a lot. We have been using Google Apps for Ed since early 2009 or 10 (can't remember), but we've only been able to have 26 kids on at a time since that's all our mobile lab had. I was looking into a 15mbps connection and it sounds like it might do fine since we've got less than 200 kids on Chromebooks.

We too are considering rolling out 700 Chromebooks this year in one massive deployment. This will be in addition to our other devices on the network. Currently or very soon we will have 150 meg. connectivity to the Internet. We currently have 75 meg of Internet bandwidth and are running nearly 90 percent utilization. Our hope is with the doubling of our bandwidth, we'll be able to accommodate the 700 new Chromebooks. Our wireless infrastructure is sound, and we have plans to install Cisco AP's in each room that has a lab of 30.

Thanks! that support link was helpful. Please correct me if I am wrong, but from what I have read, it is saying that at a minimum each connection will be .2 mb, but HD and Hangouts could potentially require 2.4-5 mb per connection?

If I have 700 of these devices on at the same time, I could I not have potentially at any given point between 140 mb to 1750 mb? Is that correct, or am I over calculating? That does not include our other day to day traffic.

I am concerned that with the addition of 700 Chromebooks, it may have a negative impact on our Internet Bandwidth. We are planning on upgrading our feed and I have no idea how much usage these devices will have. I realize it will be sporadic, but I was hoping there are some tables that would indicate how much they consume. I am thinking that they would use more than a standard notebook, or desktop since all functions are dependent on the Internet.

Thank you! The "Chromebook" world in large numbers is new to me, so any info is greatly appreciated. We intend to increase our bandwidth 50 Mbps. From what you have indicated, we should be in good shape. Of course if for some reason these classes decide to do HD streaming, or a large amount of document work, that may be a different story. I am pretty sure all of this activity will not be done at the same time.

Thanks Again!

Garry

0

This discussion has been inactive for over a year.

You may get a better answer to your question by starting a new discussion.